COMM 226

Software

Chitu OkoliAssociate Professor in Business Technology ManagementJohn Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montréal

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Software sourcing

How organizations get their software

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Three major options for acquiring application software

1. Buy off-the-shelf2. Buy off-the-shelf with alterations3. Tailor-made - custom-developed

software

Owning versus licensing software

• Unless you build it yourself, you don’t actually “buy” software—you buy a license to use program– When you buy a book, you don’t actually buy

the rights to modify and redistribute the book; you only buy a license to read your own paper or electronic copy of it

• Ownership remains with development company– Licensee (“buyer”) usually needs to pay

again for new versions

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Open-source software

• Open-source software is owned by all the software contributors in the community

• A special case of “buy off-the-shelf with alterations”

• Contributing companies save money by shared labour with other contributors

• Some vendors make money by offering support

• Users save money because they can use the software for free without paying license fees

• The most important open source software is usually of high quality

Cloud computing

• Clients do not own the computers; they just use the cloud providers’ computers

• Hardware, software, and applications are provided as a service, through a web browser

• The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet, which makes software and data services available from any location at any time

• Common examples of cloud computing for personal use:– Software as a Service (SaaS): Web e-mail (Hotmail),

online applications (Google Docs)– Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): online backup

(Dropbox, iCloud), blogs (WordPress.com)

Business benefits of cloud computing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whkyRvugqlM

Software security

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Computer viruses and malicious code

• Virus: A program that attaches itself to other programs, replicates itself, and spreads– Usually combined with some other malware (called its payload) to cause damage, such as damaging or stealing data

– Worm: Replicates itself and spreads over a network, without attaching itself to other programs

• Botnet: a network of hijacked computers (zombies) that can do whatever the hacker wants them to do– Hacker uses a virus or worm to install a payload that

secretly takes control of victims’ computers– Like a good biological virus, the botnet virus doesn’t

usually let the user know that it’s even there, maybe even for years

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Virus prevention • Install antivirus software• Make backups (and scan them for

viruses!)• Avoid untrusted sources of software• Never open unexpected e-mail

attachments, even if you know the sender

• If your computer gets a virus…– Run anti-virus program with fresh updates– If still necessary, reformat your computer:

• Reformat• Run antivirus• Reinstall programs• Reinstate your backups—you have backups, right?10

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Operating systems

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What is Linux?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ocq6_3-nEw

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Popular operating systems• Major desktop operating systems

– Windows (90%)– Apple (4-7%)– Linux (1-2%)

• Major web server operating systems– Linux/Unix (67%)– Windows (33%)

• Major mobile operating systems (smartphones)– Android (75-85%)– iOS (11-19%)

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/operating_system/all

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Why is Windows more popular for business than Mac?

• A somewhat biased (pro-Mac) but detailed perspective:– How Windows REALLY Became The Ma

rket Leader (Pt.1)

– How Windows REALLY Became The Market Leader (Pt.2)

Sources

• Most of the slides are adapted from COMM 226 Business Technology Management by David M. Kroenke, Andrew Gemino, Peter Tingling, and Earl H. McKinney, Jr. 2nd Custom Edition for Concordia University (2014) published by Pearson Canada. ISBN 13: 978-1-269-96956-7

• Other sources are noted on the slides themselves

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